1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to locater systems and methods, in particular, to an individual system and method which depicts other people and objects. In a preferred form, the user can change the depiction including viewing and identifying friends or people with common interests from a number of angles, locations, and magnitudes.
2. Description of Related Art
GPS systems have been used in sports by participants in contests where position, location and distance to features are important. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,093 describes a GPS system and method for allowing a golfer to tell distance to a hole or other feature, and permits the course to track and manage golfers on the course. NASCAR with Sportsline has developed a GPS system mounted to cars for TV viewers to monitor a race.
GPS Systems have been used in a threat environment by the military in a variety of applications such as navigation aids and guidance systems for ordnance. GPS Systems have also been used for training scenarios. In both the military and civilian social networking applications, GPS Systems have been used for tracking people or objects.
GPS systems are becoming much more accurate, inexpensive and robust. GPS systems are good about telling a bearing from one location to another location, but are not good about telling a direction or orientation, particularly if not moving. GPS antennas and engines are fairly inexpensive and accurate with WAAS to less than 2 meters. Accuracy is improving, especially with the increase in the number of advanced satellites and frequencies available. In a local area, the accuracy can be improved to centimeters, depending on the accuracy required, latency constraints, processing and bandwidth available, etc. Further, communication links are becoming very inexpensive and high bandwidth. For example, WiFi (802.11g) has modems with network signals approaching a 1 mile range, cost less than $5, with bandwidth of 54M bit/sec. Wi-max (802.16) has network signals approaching 30 miles with data rates as high as 70M bit/sec, but is more relevant to fixed installations Future versions of WiFi or other radio technology might be less than $1 with 10-100× bandwidths within a few years (as used herein WiFi refers to current and future versions of wireless local area networks (WLAN) based on the IEEE 802.11 specifications).
What has not been done in the sports arena is an integrated GPS system for spectators to more fully enjoy a sport. For example, at a NASCAR race, a spectator's location limits his view of the race and is his own unique perspective. While watching a race, the spectator might listen to a radio or watch a portable TV, but the perspective is the announcer's or TV angle. Such divergent perspectives—announcer versus personal—can be confusing. Further, a 3rd turn spectator might be most interested in the cars he can see—the ones near the 3rd turn. Other sports would benefit from a system that allows a spectator to more fully integrate the contest information with his viewing perspective. In addition to auto racing, football, yachting, horse racing, golf, hockey or any motor sport are candidates for the system and method hereof, especially as size and weight of GPS and radios accompanying a participant decreases.
What is lacking in personal networking applications, including social and business situations, is an integrated GPS system for an individual user to gain situational awareness and to easily identify friends or others of interest. That is, while a personal networking participant might possess a GPS enabled cell phone that transmits his position, this information does the individual little good. Such a personal networking participant might have an overhead view of a map showing the position of other friends in the general vicinity, but leaves it up to the participant to find and identify them.
A particular problem in the area of personal networking is identifying a person of interest in a confusing environment, such as a crowd. For example, a cell phone having a GPS might be enabled to identify that a friend is near, but the user cannot locate the friend because of the crowd or environment, e.g. a crowded street or concert. Users also have difficulty relating how a small mark identifying a friend on a map correlates to their position or their view of the situation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,744,403 describes a GPS system for tracking objects, such as cars, at a sporting event. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,090. High data rate packet transmission is known, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,894,994; 6,909,738; 6,885,652; 6,917,644; 6,801,516. Examples of user interfaces, such as PDA's, cell phones, headsets, and the like are U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,053,780; 6,879,443 and 6,115,177. Examples of social networking devices and applications using GPS include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,039,435; 7,035,647; 6,912,398; 7,136,747 and Application Serial Nos. 20060154687; 20040203595; 20060242234; and 20030236120. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference.